RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Iowa >> Dallas County >> Van Meter >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Van Meter, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Van Meter and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Van Meter:
    • 41.532138, -93.95464
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Van Meter
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Dallas County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dallas County
    • Since Van Meter is near Madison County and also Polk County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Madison County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Polk County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Van Meter

Communities Also Named Van Meter ...

We found three communities that are also named Van Meter.

Within Iowa, the name Van Meter is unique.

Beyond Iowa, we know of three communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kentucky
      • Fayette County
      • This Van Meter is located in Fayette County and lies 551 miles [886.7 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Van Meter that is located in Dallas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of Van Meter.
    • Ohio
      • Pike County
      • This Van Meter is located in Pike County and lies 600 miles [965.6 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Van Meter that is located in Dallas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pike County community of Van Meter.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Westmoreland County
      • This Van Meter is located in Westmoreland County and lies 747 miles [1,202.2 km]<1> to the east of the Van Meter that is located in Dallas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Westmoreland County community of Van Meter.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Van Meter ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

How Far From Van Meter to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a city such as Van Meter to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Van Meter and extending to:

  • Adel, which is the Seat of Dallas County, lies just to the North Northwest.
  • Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<1> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could walk a straight line from Van Meter to Des Moines, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 908 miles [1,461.3 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of two days, a buggy would take 36 days and walking would take 52 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,424 miles [10,338.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,173 miles [11,543.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,069 miles [8,157.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Van Meter) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<4>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Van Meter to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Van Meter. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.5321, Longitude: -93.9546    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.716 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.184 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.844 degrees.